More frequently, optical input/output (I/O) is being used in computer systems to transmit data between system components. Optical I/O is able to attain higher system bandwidth with lower electromagnetic interference than conventional I/O methods. In order to implement optical I/O, radiant energy is coupled to a fiber optic waveguide from an optoelectronic integrated circuit (IC).
Typically, a fiber optic communication link includes a fiber optic transmitting device such as a laser, a fiber optic cable span, and a light receiving element such as a detector. Further, there is an increasing objective in current optical I/O systems to transmit and receive multiple wavelengths via a single optic fiber, thus enabling multiple I/O data streams to be simultaneously transmitted/received.